I’ve added a desk tidy to Emily’s desk!

In an earlier post I showed you how we made a desk as one of the finishing touches for Emily’s Ikea Hack bedroom makeover:

Children’s Ikea Hack bedroom makeover finishing touches: DIY desk.

Full details of Emily’s of how we achieved Emily’s Ikea Hack bedroom makeover are found via the following link:

Ikea Hack Children’s Bedroom Makeover: The Big Reveal

Now that Emily has settled in turned it into a messy pit of clothes, drinks bottles, sweet wrappers and bits and bobs, I decided we needed to add some additional features to help combat some of the clutter.

Emily needs a ‘Desk tidy’ to keep her desk tidy!

Emily’s new desk is great but because it’s relatively small, it doesn’t take long for it to become cluttered with pens, pencils and the rest of the stuff that youngest shoves on it.

I spotted some fantastic little plastic containers in Ikea (Bygel containers, recently discontinued and replaced by Sunnersta containers), that are usually hung from metal rails in kitchens and thought it would be a great idea to fix them to the side of Emily’s desk so she could put some of her pens, pencils and accessories in them.

Unfortunately, the screw plates on the metal rail were too big to attach to the edge or underside of the desk and I didn’t want to fix anything to the wall.

After giving it some thought, I finally came up with a solution. I’d replicate the technique used for hanging net curtains. All I needed to do was attach a length of net curtain wire  to the side of the desk using screw hooks and eyes and hang the containers from it.

How to make a DIY ‘Ikea Hack’ Desk tidy.

Tools and materials.

• Net curtain wire (I bought mine from B&Q and the pack included hooks and eyes).
• Hooks and eyes for curtain wire (may already be included in net curtain wire pack).
• I used 3 white Ikea Bygel containers, which were recently discontinued (Why does that happen as soon as I complete a post?!!) and replaced by the similar Sunnersta container (£0.50).
  

  Ikea Bygel Containers, (discontinued), £0.75

  

  The Ikea Sunnersta Container in White (£0.50) appears to have superseded the Bygel container.

   

• Cable clips.
• Scissors
• Wire cutters
• Pin hammer

Step-by-step instructions.

(The edge of Emily’s desk where the containers will be suspended is approximately 44cm deep)

1. Screw two hooks into the side edge of the desk about 1cm in from each end. Be careful not to split the MDF.

2. Use a tape measure to determine the length of net wire required for the width of the desk, making allowances for the additional length of the wire once the metal eyes have been screwed into either end.

2. Cut the net wire to the required length using wire cutters and screw the metal eyes into each end.

3. Attach the net wire by slipping the metal eyes over the hooks on the side of the desk.

4. Using a metal tape measure, mark the net wire one-third of the way along and again two-thirds of the way along.

5. Pin the net wire in place at the marked points using cable tidy tacks (or whatever they’re called!)

6. Suspend the Bygel containers from the desk by hooking them over the net wire.

All done!

Suspending the Bygel containers from Emily’s desk means she has more storage, without it taking up valuable desk space.

The Bygel containers are perfect for pens, pencils and other bits and bobs (of which there are many!)

Over to you.

I’m really pleased with this cheap and simple DIY Ikea hack desk tidy. What do you think? Have you got any space saving ideas or organising tips that don’t cost the earth? As always, I’d love to hear from you.

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